Zimmerman case sparks strong emotions
SANFORD, Fla. — When George Zimmerman’s murder trial begins Monday, for some people it will be a civil-rights bellwether. For others, it’s a chance at absolution for a Neighborhood Watch volunteer who has lived in hiding for more than a year but insists he did nothing wrong. To many it will be a test of the legal system and whether it can bring justice to a grieving family.
The trial will take place at the Seminole County criminal courthouse in Florida, seven miles from where Zimmerman killed Tr a y vo n Martin, an unarmed black teenager, on Feb. 26, 2012, setting off weeks of civil-rights rallies.
Officials are prepared for protesters, an overf lowing courtroom and weeks of testimony about what happened the night two people, one with a gun, encountered each other behind a row of town houses in a west Sanford neighborhood.
News accounts and social-media posts from the courtroom are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of followers.
“This goes to the heart of a wound that simply won’t heal: the whole issue of race relations in this country,” said Russell McLatchey, a Longwood attorney and Seminole County courthouse regular
immerman is the light- skinned Hispanic man who had called police moments before the shooting and described Trayvon as suspicious and “up to no good.”
When Sanford police did not arrest Zimmerman, Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, was outraged, and he and family attorneys Benjamin Crump and Natalie Jackson began a campaign that was joined by national civil-rights leaders.
At a March 26, 2012, rally in Sanford, the Rev. Al Sharpton warned the city, “You are risking going down as the Birmingham and Selma of the 21st century.”
But to Zimmerman and his attorneys, race was never the issue. Zimmerman is not a racist, says defense attorney Mark O’Mara. The former Neighborhood Watch volunteer was simply defending himself from an attacker who had pinned him to the ground and was banging his head against a sidewalk.
The trial will officially begin when 100 to 200 po- tential jurors arrive at the courthouse Monday morning and begin filling out a questionnaire designed especially for this case.
Jury selection is expected to take one to three weeks. Attorneys and Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson will pick a panel of six plus four alternates.
Then will come the drama: testimony and evidence. Attorneys from the office of Special Prosecutor Angela Corey will put on their case first, trying to prove Zimmerman committed a crime.